> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.smile.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Understand birthday points

> Learn how birthday points work, when customers are awarded birthday points, and security measures in place to prevent fraud.

Birthday points are awarded once a year to celebrate a customer's birthday. Customers must enter their birth month and day in the Smile panel to earn birthday points. Smile includes security measures to ensure birthday points cannot be misused.

Smile collects only the birth month and day, which are required to issue points. For privacy reasons, the birth year is not collected.

Birthdays are not synced from your eCommerce platform and must be added directly in Smile.

<Note>
  **Note:** Before customers can enter a birthday, the **Birthday** earning action must be enabled. For setup details, follow the guide on [configuring ways to earn points.](/en/articles/4036267-configure-ways-to-earn-points)
</Note>

## How customers input their birthday

### For individual customers

Once the Birthday action is enabled, customers can find **Birthday** under **"Ways to earn"** in the Smile panel. From there, they can **enter and save their birthday** directly in the panel.

<Tip>
  **Tip**: To learn more about entering a birthday from a customer's perspective you can check out our customer guide: [How do I earn birthday points?](https://faq.smile.io/en/articles/6380692-how-do-i-earn-birthday-points)
</Tip>

### For multiple customers

If you need to add birthdays in bulk, you can import them using a CSV file.

👉 [Import birthdays with a CSV file](/en/articles/11886789-import-birthdays-with-a-csv-file).

## When birthday points are awarded

Birthday points are issued daily at approximately **12 AM ET** on the customer's birthday. This schedule does not change based on your account's timezone.

<Note>
  **Note:** A birthday reward issues **points only**. Customers must redeem those points to receive a discount code. A code is not created automatically.
</Note>

## Security measures

Smile prevents misuse of birthday points with built-in rules:

* Points are **not issued immediately** when a customer enters their birthday.
* A customer must save their birthday **at least 30 days** before the date to receive points that year. If the date is within 30 days, they will earn points starting next year.
* Birthday points are awarded **only once every 365 days**. If a customer changes their birthday after receiving points within the last 365 days, they will not receive points again until the following year.

### Scenarios

| **Scenario**                                                                                                                           | **Birthday points awarding behavior**                                                                                               |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| On **Jan 1, 2025** customer enters their birthday as **March 1.**                                                                      | Points are awarded on **March 1, 2025.**                                                                                            |
| On **Feb 22, 2025** customer enters their birthday as **March 1.**                                                                     | Points are **not** awarded on March 1, 2025 but will be awarded on **March 1, 2026.**                                               |
| On **Jan 1, 2025** customer enters their birthday as **March 1.** On **March 2, 2025** customer updates their birthday to **June 14.** | Points are awarded on **March 1, 2025.** Points are **not** awarded again onJune 14, 2025,but will be awarded on **June 14, 2026.** |

<Tip>
  **Tip**: If you would like to review why a particular customer's birthday points were not awarded, you can use our guide on [troubleshooting birthday points](/en/articles/11074454-troubleshoot-birthday-points)*.*
</Tip>